Comedian and actor Russell Brand was part of a committee at Parliament on 24th
April 2012 which expressed his views to the British government to adopt
a pragmatic approach to addressing the issues that has led to an
increase in young people taking drugs in the United Kingdom and also to
develop a better approach to those who have an addiction to legal and
non-legal drugs.
Russell Brand, who was a former heroin addict
(who had been quoted being arrested more than 12 times on drug related
offenses), had addressed and has enhanced many of his personal issues in
regards to being a former addict.
Russell said to the House of
Commons Home Affairs Committee that he had taken drugs as a means to
feel a void in his life, he was quoted “I was sad, lonely, unhappy,
detached and drugs and alcohol for me seemed like a solution to that
problem.”
He stated that addiction should be treated as an
illness rather than a criminal or judicial matter. He also expressed
that more awareness and research had to be implemented into
abstinence-based recovery, which he underwent to treat his addiction at
charity group Focus12, of which he is a patron to.
The high
profiled former addict was part of a method by the House of Commons to
raise awareness in drug related rehabilitation issues. We believe that
this is a move by the committee to address the issues of government
funds rehabilitation. Brand had smartly said that “It is cheaper to
rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalization
doesn’t even make economic sense.”
Our note: We feel that
Russell Brand is no different to any public individual that is allowed
to give their views on the drug culture in the United Kingdom and the
Governments approach to dealing with the matter. Brands vocal and
proactive approach to help others get out of the trap that he himself
faced is more than admirable. Drugs and their effects affect not only an
individual but also those around them. We feel that Brand has addressed
many issues that many politician’s may not have been aware or that
these politicians are so fashionably detached from the real working
world that they have never come into contact with these problems.
When we had seen that Mr.Brand was in the Houses Of Commons it was a
great eye opener as you’d never hear such words utter from a high
profiled figure in the entertainment world. We highly recommend that you
view the video:
article written by: www.frontpose.com
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